Cooking appliance
AssigneeLG Electronics Inc.
InventorsHakjoo Lim, Jaekyung Yang, Soochan Lee, Yongsoo Lee
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A cooking appliance according to an embodiment of the present invention may comprise: a case in which a cooking chamber is formed; a door for opening or closing the front opening of the case; a steam generating device mounted to the outer surface of the case; and a steam supply tube for connecting the steam generating device to the cooking chamber, wherein the steam generating device includes: a housing fixed to the case; a drawer which can be pushed into and pulled out of the housing and is filled with water for steam generation; and an induction unit installed at the bottom of the housing so as to heat water filled in the drawer by using electromagnetic induction.
Claims17
A cooking appliance comprising:
- a case that defines a cooking chamber therein;
- a door configured to open and close a front opening of the case;
- a steam generator mounted on an outer surface of the case;
- and
- a steam supply tube that connects the steam generator to the cooking chamber,
- wherein the steam generator includes:
- a housing fixed to the case,
- a drawer configured to be withdrawn from and inserted into the housing, the drawer being configured to receive water for generating steam, and
- an inductor disposed at an inner bottom surface of the housing and configured to heat the water in the drawer by electromagnetic induction,
- wherein the drawer includes:
- an outer case made of a plastic material, the outer case including an engaging hole defined at a bottom thereof,
- an inner case disposed inside of the outer case and made of a metallic material that is configured to be heated by electromagnetic induction, the inner case including a front portion, a bottom portion, a left side portion, a right side portion, and a rear portion,
- a case cover that covers upper surfaces of the inner case and the outer case, the case cover having a water injection hole,
- an injection hole cover coupled to the case cover and configured to open and close the water injection hole,
- a thermistor disposed below the outer case and configured to sense a surface temperature of the outer case, and
- an engaging protrusion configured to vertically move to the engaging hole of the outer case based on a temperature value detected by the thermistor, the engaging protrusion having an upper end that is configured to selectively insert into the engaging hole of the outer case to thereby limit withdrawal of the outer case from the housing based on the temperature value detected by the thermistor,
- wherein the drawer has a separation space that is an air layer defined between the inner case and the outer case, and
- wherein the engaging protrusion is configured to pass through the engaging hole and protrude upward into the separation ace above the inner bottom surface of the housing.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.